Brand Guidelines

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Written style

Voice
Writing for FKP
Audience and Key Messages
Clean Clear Language

Voice

First person

Wherever possible, we talk about 'we' and 'our' and 'us' rather than referring to everything in the third person form of FKP or the name of the project. So rather than say 'FKP believes' or 'The Project believes', you would say 'We believe...'

Possessive

FKP does not have a possessive – it is never referred to as FKP's – rather we say that [whatever it is] is part of FKP.

Writing for FKP

As an organisation, we simply refer to ourselves as FKP. We never refer to ourselves FKP Property Group.
This shift is based on feedback from stakeholders, and sends our stakeholders the message that we are more personal, yet strong, and ensures that all parts of our business are associated with the one FKP.

This means whether we answer the phone or are signing a letter, we refer to us as simply FKP.

We try not to use words like Project, Development, Company, or Group. These words are associated with building buildings and we want to give our customers and stakeholders the clear message that we build communities, care about the space more than the place, and seek to find ways for Australians to live work, retire and invest (see Brand Story).

Instead, words like community, estate, and ways of living can be used.

For the same reaseons we do not use ‘developed by' as it directly conflicts with Brought to you by…

Team Members

We refer to our work colleagues as “employees” rather than staff – it shows respect and is consistent with the warm tone of our language.

Avoid these Terms

The following terms should be avoided as they don’t represent our Brand Story correctly (see Brand Story and FKP). They can be replaced with the suggestions provided in the table:

Avoid:
Instead use:

Project
Community, Estate, Way of living

Development
Community, Estate, Way of living

Company
FKP

Group
FKP

Developed by
Brought to you by

Audience and Key Messages

Audience

Always consider who you are writing for, and the appropriate language. Modify what you say, how you say it and the format you use for your target audience.

Key Messages

Always consider what your key messages and call to action are. Communicate them clearly and concisely. All communications should have clear key messages, and where a call to action is required, this should be articulated clearly.

Clean Clear Language

Clarity and Accuracy

We speak clearly, accurately and with confidence. We do not fill our communications with conditions or qualifying phrases. We say 'We will do our best to help you', not 'If possible, we will do our best to help you' or 'We will try and do our best to help you'.

We use active language rather than passive language where possible. We would say ‘we sold out of the estate’ rather than ‘the estate was sold out by us’.

Simple Clean Language

Simple language is well planned straight forward writing, using only as many words as necessary to communicate your meaning. Simple language is encouraged throughout all communications.

Keep your writing simple by avoiding superfluous or over complicated language, for example,

Instead of saying:
You should say:

until such time as
until

because of the fact that
because

as a consequence of
because

by reason of
because

for the purpose of
to

in the event that
where, if

prior to
before

subsequent to after

with reference to about

terms and conditions terms

at such time when

did not remember forgot

accustomed to used to

commenced began

Replace ‘old’ terms with modern simple language

Instead of saying:
You should say:

henceforth
from here on

hereby
now

herein
in this

notwithstanding
despite

notwithstanding that
even though

whatsoever
of any kind

whereas
as

Jargon

Avoid jargon. If specialist terminology is required, always qualify it upfront with an explanation. Jargon does not give your writing more authority; instead it will lessen the impact by rendering it more obscure.